Collections: European Art: Flood at Moret (Inondation à Moret)

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Flood at Moret (Inondation à Moret)

During the 1870s the Seine and its tributaries, such as the Loing, flooded several times. Rather than painting the destructive force of the deluge, Sisley depicted the calm aftereffects of such events: familiar towns and terrains rendered alien by altered boundaries and new reflections in the lapping waters.

Here Sisley fragments the view of the village of Moret through a screen of bare trees inundated by the Loing’s high water. Completing this image in front of the scene, Sisley brushed blue paint over his canvas in visible, zigzagging strokes and allowed the white ground or base layer to stand for clouds. With quick linear gestures, he painted the wispy branches of the trees in warmer and cooler shades to suggest light and shade.


• Artist: Alfred Sisley, British, active France, 1839-1899
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Place Made: France
• Dates: 1879
• Dimensions: 21 1/4 x 28 1/4 in. (54 x 71.8cm) Frame: 30 1/4 x 37 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. (76.8 x 94.6 x 6.4 cm)
• Signature: Signed lower right: "Sisley."
• Collections: European Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Beaux-Arts Court, South, 3rd Floor
• Accession Number: 21.54
• Credit Line: Bequest of A. Augustus Healy
• Image: Overall, 21.54_reference_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Alfred Sisley (British, active France, 1839-1899). Flood at Moret (Inondation à Moret), 1879. Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 28 1/4 in. (54 x 71.8cm) Frame: 30 1/4 x 37 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. (76.8 x 94.6 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of A. Augustus Healy, 21.54 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.54_reference_SL1.jpg)